Following a call for submissions in January, Úna Monaghan has been announced as the first recipient of the Arts Council and National Concert Hall Liam O’Flynn Award. 

The Award was established in memory of the uilleann piper Liam O’Flynn, who died in March 2018. The O’Flynn Award provides a traditional artist with a period of artistic reflection and creation in residence at the National Concert Hall. It carries a bursary of €15,000 and space at the NCH to create a new work to be performed at the Tradition Now festival.

Monaghan is a harper, composer and sound engineer from Belfast who works with Irish harp and electronics. She is currently the Rosamund Harding Research Fellow in Music at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. Monaghan is also a founding member of Fair Plé and is on the board of the Irish Traditional Music Archive. 

The harper and composer will use the award to further her collection of works for solo traditional musicians and electronics, called Aonaracht. Speaking about the award, Monaghan said

This kind of opportunity, of time to experiment, to fail, and to make, of resources and infrastructure to build on, is invaluable to every artist, and is a rare thing. I am especially happy to be supported by funding in honour of Liam O’Flynn, a musician I have listened to, admired, and mixed. Táim ar bís le háthas; go raibh céad maith agaibh.

For further details, visit www.artscouncil.ie.